Culinary Journeys

Chef, restaurateur and San Francisco legend Gayle Pirie built the Mission District restaurant with her life and business partner John Clark, from the ground up. Her 27 years of success is a testament to her tenacity, her commitment to hospitality, and to working day in and day out with the 130 people on the Foreign Cinema team to make The Show happen each day.Gayle and I discuss what makes a menu successful, why people come back to her restaurant after so many years (and why you should order the chicken), as well as the restaurant's je ne sais quoi. #sfrestaurants @foreigncinemasf #nocompromises #gf #foodwriterhttps://christinamueller.com@eatdrinkthink 

Restaurateur Gianluca Legrottaglie already had successful Italian restaurants in San Francisco and New York. His latest project – Clementina – with wife Viviana and daughter Alice (pronounced: Ah-lee-che) is more personal. When Alice was diagnosed with celiac disease, the family's perspective on dining out changed. The result? A celiac-safe Italian restaurant with exceptionally flavorful pizza, pasta and focaccia. Gianluca, Alice and I dig in on how the restaurant idea became reality, the joy of eating gluten-free in Italy, and how on earth the team figured out how to make gluten-free pizza that folds. Yes, folds!#sfrestaurants @clementina_sf #nocompromises #gf #foodwriterhttps://christinamueller.com@eatdrinkthink 

Have you ever heard of olive tree pearls? Neither had I. But a fortuitous romp through a food show led me to a chat with Sara Kelly, Senior Product Marketing Manager at SEASON, a New Jersey-based producer of wild caught, tinned seafood and olive products. The company's olive tree pearls are a nutritional powerhouse – 1 tiny teaspoon offers the same amount of antioxidants as 10 liters of extra-virgin olive oil. Because the Desert Olive Tree Pearls are made from olives grown in Morocco’s extreme desert conditions, heat, scarce water, and mineral-rich soil naturally stress the trees. To survive, the olive trees produce high levels of protective polyphenols. Plus, they are super-cute!Sara and I discuss why these little gems should grace your next appetizer tray, their value for human health, and why sustainable seafood is back on everyone's plate.@seasonbrandofficial #proteinpacked #healthyrecipes #foodwriterhttps://christinamueller.com@eatdrinkthink 

I chat with Faith Ferguson of Oolie Foods, the first company I know of making egg-based dips and yogurts. Oolie, a sub-brand of certified B-corp HBF Foods, began as a way for the largest manufacturer of free-range and organic hard-boiled eggs to rescue misshapen, unsaleable eggs. The solution? Turn 'em into yogurt! With a clean ingredient dek and no eggy taste, these "saved eggs" became smooth, creamy yogurts and dips. Faith and I dig in on what makes Oolie's dairy-free yogurts so creamy and satisfying, who the product is appropriate for (hint: everyone), and why they are called out as "egg-based yogurt" when you see them on the store shelf. And a correction to my statement about recycling in California: Number 5 plastic does recycle in much of California. But not in the California county where I live.https://christinamueller.comhttps://ooliefoods.com#foodandbeverage @ooliefoods #ketosnacks #highprotein #foodwriterhttps://christinamueller.com@eatdrinkthink 

Winner of The Ultimate Baking Championship, Pastry Chef Molly Coen of Carmel Valley Ranch dishes on declaring her future as a pastry chef as a child, how a baking science class and a summer spent decorating cakes laid the foundation for her career, and the important role that fortune played in helping her break into the baking world.Coen enjoys working in luxury hospitality and designing cakes with seasonal flavors. Episode Encore, a seasonal follow-up to "The Ultimate Baking Championship," offers guests at Carmel Valley Ranch's restaurant smaller plated versions of desserts Coen made on the show. We chat about hyper-realistic desserts and how Coen's finds inspiration from products grown or husbanded on the Ranch and how they make their way into her desserts.@carmelvranch @sweets.first #desserts #gfdesserts #foodwriterhttps://christinamueller.com@eatdrinkthink 

How does a restaurant become a great restaurant? At Anomaly, the modernist cuisine from owner-chef Mike Lanham and his team reflects a grit honed as much in Michelin-starred restaurant kitchens as at competitive bike races and wrestling matches. This dude is DETERMINED to make his small restaurant succeed. In our chat, Lanham talks about his path to restaurants, why he works out every day, how the pandemic helped launch Anomaly's success, and why an emoji egg – a dish that catapulted Lanham to the front page of San Francisco's food media – remains a sacred menu item.#sfrestaurants @anomaly_sf #funluxury @m_lanham #foodwriterhttps://christinamueller.com@eatdrinkthink 

Matt Levey is no stranger to starting businesses — Field Trip, maker of jerky, meat sticks and pork rinds, is another company he is a part of. But human bodies – despite the media hype around protein – need more than protein. We need fiber, fats and other nutrients to maintain health, especially gut health. And that's where a next gen bar like Defender comes in. Levey and I chat about the ideal balance of protein, fiber, and sugar for adults and kids, what makes dandelion root such a powerful pre-biotic, and why whey is not a perfect protein solution. Added bonus? My listeners can enter EATDRINK15 at https://defenderbar.com/ or on Amazon to get 15% off orders of any size. #balancednutrition #onthegosnacks #functionalfood #gymsnacks #foodwriterhttps://christinamueller.com@eatdrinkthink 

A PhD in Neuroscience and Physics helps chef and restaurateur Omer Artun of Meyhouse restaurants in California maximize operational efficiencies. But it's his passion for food, especially the Turkish food of his upbringing, that energizes the flavors of Artun's cuisine. Our conversation sweeps from Artun's culinary influences, across the breadth of Eurasian manti (stuffed pasta or dumplings), to his 32 year-old (and counting) yogurt culture.#californiacuisine #turkishfood #slowfood #foodwriterhttps://christinamueller.com@eatdrinkthink 

Professional chef Aran Goyoaga grew up in a bakery – her Basque family owned one. After a doctor's diagnosis required a shift to a gluten-free life, Goyoaga started a journey of gluten-free discovery, learning to bake sweet treats, like cookies and pies, and then brioche and bread. I sat down with Aran to chat about how to start your own gluten-free bread baking journey, what butters to consider (vegan and regular), and the joy of holiday baking. Plus a side note about marzipan.#glutenfree #glutenfreebread #glutenfreebaking #foodwriterhttps://www.arangoyoaga.com@cannellevanillehttps://christinamueller.com@eatdrinkthink 

Known for their work at Oakland's now-closed Juhu Beach Club where they introduced the San Francisco Bay Area to modern South Asian street food by way of California, Chef Preeti Mistry changed the narrative around Indian food. The James Beard Award-winning podcaster (Loading Dock Talks with Chef Preeti Mistry) talks about being a chef at heart, their path back to cooking full-time at Napa' Silver Oak Winery, and bringing flavor to their seasonal, four-course tasting menu – Chef's Table – at the acclaimed winery. #silveroak #wineries #food #modern #Indian #dining #napa https://christinamueller.com@eatdrinkthink